


sing me a different tune

by kagome_angel



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Nostalgia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 22:05:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1874169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kagome_angel/pseuds/kagome_angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's heard this song before.  This beginning is both like and unlike the last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sing me a different tune

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know, guys. This is what popped in my head, though. Alludes to events in Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core. Written for KH Drabble challenge 293: settle.

The beginning (same words but a different song, both impossibly familiar and yet completely foreign, and how many 'beginnings' can one person have, anyway?) goes like this:

She notices the eyes first—how blue they are, and she knows she's seen eyes like them before. They're leveled on her and she can't turn away; it's like they have her rooted on the spot.

His hair is styled in such a manner that it sticks out at odd angles (like _his_ ), and it is blonde (unlike _his_ ). It suits him, she thinks.

There is a glimpse of what-might-be recognition in his eyes, but then it is gone and so is he; he turns away before she can even ask his name.

She's clutching fresh-picked flowers in her hands (something about the soil and the smell of new things comforts her), and she wonders if she should have asked him if he wanted one.

~*~

She learns he's a drifter, never settling in one place for long (his world was taken by the darkness, too). She hopes (irrationally) that he'll change his mind about it, just this once.

She has the courage to introduce herself one day, and he tells her that his name is Cloud.

_Fitting for a storm_ , yes? Because this cloud is not all bright-white and fluffy. There is darkness there, and he confides in her one day—he tells her that he's fighting it.

“I'll help you,” she offers quietly, and blushes immediately after saying it.

He smiles briefly, but doesn't reply.

_(And it's so like **him** , but that **other him** , he would have had something to say.)_

~*~

He's gone one day—just _gone_ , no goodbye or anything, but despite her worry and her disappointment, she knows he'll be back.

They meet again in the quiet of a library, not by chance, but fate's design.

Cid warns her not to let herself get too close in spite of the fact that he's the one who brought Cloud back (to her).

_(“Remember what happened last time?”)_

She thinks of two different sets of blue-beyond-blue eyes, and wonders which 'last time' he could possibly be referring to.

~*~

“It feels like I've lost you before,” he tells her one evening. It's snowing and she's shivering even with his jacket around her, practically swallowing her because her frame is so much smaller than his.

She isn't quite sure how to respond, because she thinks he may have a reason for feeling this way.

Teeth chattering, she eventually replies: “You won't lose me now.”

It's a promise.

He leads her back inside, his fingers linked warmly through her own.

He's always the protector (always has been), but she knows (from experience, perhaps) that sometimes the protector needs protection, too.

~*~

He at least makes his second departure known to her beforehand. She can't say she's happy about it, but she understands his reasons, and he's made her a promise. He'll be back.

She chooses to wait for him, because she has the feeling that she's done this for someone else before (in a different story—one she can't fully remember). She also knows – _knows_ , deep down in her bones – that Cloud's had to wait for her at some point as well (once again, a different story).

It's like an old record repeating again and again, and yet the song is never the same.

She doesn't know if she'll ever get used to it. She doesn't know if she'll ever _want_ to.

Plain old 'settling' is just boring, anyway.  



End file.
